Sarasota Museum of Art is closer to goal with $300,000 Selby gift

With less than a month to go to meet a $1 million matching challenge gift, the future Sarasota Museum of Art has added another $300,000 to its fund with a gift from the Selby Foundation.

The museum still needs to raise just over $500,000 to complete the match and its $22 million fundraising goal.

An anonymous donor issued the million-dollar matching challenge on March 22, with a May 31 deadline. The gift followed another million-dollar matching gift from SMOA board member Elaine Keating in January that sparked a frenetic response of giving; the Keating gift was matched within six weeks.

The modern and contemporary art museum will be housed in the historic Sarasota High School building on Tamiami Trail. A division of the Ringling College of Art and Design, its plans include $14 million to renovate the Collegiate Gothic-style red brick building into exhibition space, classrooms, studios, a sculpture court and cafe. Another $8 million is earmarked for an endowment fund.

Renovations will begin soon after the fundraising goal is met, with an 18-month timeline and an anticipated opening in January 2016.

“We hope our $300,000 capping grant will motivate other donors to meet the challenge of the anonymous donor to raise a million dollars by May 31 to complete this important project,” said Sarah Pappas, president of the Selby Foundation, which has been a longtime supporter of Ringling College programs.

Wendy Surkis, SMOA president, said the Selby grant “comes at a critical hour — helping at a key moment in time just days away from our fundraising deadline. As with all campaigns, the last mile is the toughest. Anyone who gives now will carry us across the finish line, and we look forward to more members of our community stepping forward to help complete this dream.”

Without being officially open, SMOA has already embarked on several monumental exhibits. Its ARTmuse program has brought North Carolina sculptor Patrick Dougherty to town to build a large-scale architectural sculpture on the front lawn, completed in January 2013, and Lisa Hoke from New York last winter, to create an installation of recycled paperboard on the walls of a large classroom.

To donate to the fundraising effort, call Surkis at 309-7662 or visit www.SarasotaMuseumOfArt.org.